Three Secrets

There are three secrets I discovered on my writing journey that I learned by researching and from my failures. Once I understood these three secrets, grasped their meanings, and it changed my writing forever. Are you intrigued yet?

• Secret 1- the separating factor between the hobby and the amateur writer.

I bet you are wondering what is the main difference between the hobby and the amateur writer. Well, there is a huge difference in these two categories that no one has told you, but I will.

Here’s the guarded secret, when a person decides to strive for publication the writer’s mind is focus on the readers’ desires. An amateur writer is no longer writing for him/herself, and with a single mission to please the readers.

Let me say that again, the amateur writer is writing for the reader. The purpose of your story is to delight and entertain your audience.

• Secret 2- for the readers will determine your success in the market place.

The goal is to write a nail biting tale that the reader wants to buy and is glued to the words of the story until the adventure is over. That is what readers are searching and craving on their hunt for the next great read.

Once the amateur writer understands this concept and then the writing process becomes less daunting. When I fully grasp the concept, and it drove me on a different hunt to improve my writing, making the writing process easier.

At some point in the future your grand tale will be in the hands of the reader, and it needs to be the best tale that you can create.

• Secret 3- the Mind Battles when writing a novel.

Writing is a battle of the mind, and some days there are victories; other times losses… major losses! The war is over when the novel hits the market place, and the next war comes when writing the next novel. I hope I didn’t break your bubble of expectations.

But I see this a lot in beginning writers (newbies) or returning writers struggling with the Mind Battles to get the juices flowing in their minds. I will admit that I struggle with this too, but I shove the doubts away because I love to write. What I have learned from my journey that the real battle happens in the mind.

What newbies struggle with a lot in the writing process is feeling so alone in new territory with a lack of confidence. That is the biggest issue I see over and over again.

Let me share my tidbit with you: writing is solitary work. No one else can write your tale. Even if you hire a ghostwriter to write your tale that the ghostwriter needs direction from you. Writing is suppose to be solitary work, and to win the battle over feeling alone is to have confidence in your ability to write. Just sit down at your favorite spot to work on your grand tale, and the feeling of being alone will drift away. I promise the feeling will fade.

There will be many battles in your mind that you will face while writing your tale. From my experience this is completely normal. These Mind Battles are needed to weed out the hobby writers from the amateur writers.

If you win these battles and continue to write; you will be on the road to publication of being a amateur writer with a single purpose to complete a novel. That is a fun and exciting adventure to do in 2017!